A catalogue of Western manuscripts at the Bodleian Libraries and selected Oxford colleges

OR BROWSE BY

MANUSCRIPTS
WORKS
PEOPLE
PLACES

MS. Rawl. B. 187

Summary Catalogue no.: 11548

Contents

Chronicle of England (Brut Chronicle) to 1332

Imperfect at beginning and end; identified by Lister M. Matheson, The Prose Brut (Tempe, AZ, 1998), pp. 180–1, as a witness to the extended version to 1419, Group A

Language(s): Middle English

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: paper
i + 135 + i leaves.
Dimensions (binding): 287 × 205 × 42 mm.
Dimensions (leaf): 285–290 × 207 mm.

Layout

212–217 × 138–147 mm.

212–217 × 138–147 mm.

212–217 × 138–147 mm.

Hand(s)

At least two scribes, writing in a combination of light brown and black inks, in a littera cursiva antiquior script.

Decoration

Initials stroked in yellow of two lines in height on fols. 3v, 5r–15v, and 28r–32r.

Coloured initials in red ink of one line in height on fols. 16v–27v.

Spaces of two lines in height left for initials on fols. 5r–15v.

Instructions for initials of a single line in height left on fols. 20r and 23r, .

Drawings and scribbles found on fols. 19r (scribbled lines below text block), 28r (ship), 36v (horseshoe shapes), and 86r.

Rubrication on fols. 17v–19v, 20v–27v, and 33r–131r.

Flourished catchwords on fol. 2v.

Binding

Date of 1637 given on front of binding.

History

Origin: 15th century ; English

Provenance and Acquisition

Richard Rawlinson, 1690–1755

Bequeathed to the Bodleian in 1755

Record Sources

Description adapted from the Quarto Catalogue (W. D. Macray, Catalogi codicum manuscriptorum Bibliothecæ Bodleianæ...viri munificentissimi Ricardi Rawlinson, J.C.D., codicum...complectens, Quarto Catalogues V, 5 fascicles, 1862–1900), with additional reference to published literature as cited.
Summary Catalogue, Vol. 3, p. 197
Quarto Catalogue, Col. 523

2025-05-16: Additional data collected by Emily Titcombe and Ioana Carina Cirtita as part of the 'Big Data' and Medieval Manuscripts workshop held at the Bodleian Libraries, Oxford on 22nd May 2025. Data encoded in TEI-XML by Sebastian Dows-Miller on 28th May 2025.

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2025-05-16: Additional data collected by Emily Titcombe and Ioana Carina Cirtita as part of the 'Big Data' and Medieval Manuscripts workshop held at the Bodleian Libraries, Oxford on 22nd May 2025. Data encoded in TEI-XML by Sebastian Dows-Miller on 28th May 2025.